People

Christoph Sponsel

DPhil Candidate in Politics

Research Topic:

Challenges for stability and democracy following civil conflict peace agreements
AFFILIATION
Government and Politics Network
College
St Hugh's College
Course
DPhil Politics
supervisor

Christoph is a DPhil Candidate in Politics under the supervision of Professor Stathis Kalyvas. His research focuses on political violence and political participation in peace process societies, with a regional focus on Latin America. For his doctoral dissertation, Christoph analyses the involvement and influence of demobilised rebels in protests and social movements using Colombia as a case study.

Christoph's interest in Latin American politics, societies, and culture developed through internships at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bogotá and the German embassy in Quito.

Before joining the University of Oxford, Christoph studied economics at Yale, Cambridge, and the Barcelona School of Economics and business administration at Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid. He also spent several years working in the financial services industry at UBS, Oliver Wyman, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan.

Research

Christoph's research interests include:

  • Political Violence
  • Social Movements
  • Political Sociology
  • Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

Teaching

Teaching experience

  • Teaching Fellow, Principles of Microeconomics (undergraduate), Yale University Department of Economics, 2015 to 2016 
  • Seminar Leader, Foundations/ Political Philosophy (graduate), University of Oxford Blavatnik School of Government, Michaelmas 2022

 

Teaching interests

  • Politics in Latin America
  • Political Sociology
  • Sociological Theory

 

Languages

  • Fluent in written and spoken English, Spanish, German (native), and French. Advanced in Brazilian Portuguese.

Publications